Every month, there comes that day when it is our duty to bust your head open
and let you know what the NEXT shit is gonna be - and that day is now.
Welcome to Volume 4 of The Singles File; and without further adieu here is
the very latest in fat hip-hop shit for YOUR perusal.

Star Wars and Hip-Hop split their DNA in a cloning lab; and after 79 aborted fetuses,
"Fortruss" was the result. Blast this shit in your ride on your way to Episode I,
but don't forget the fat b-side "Countdown Theory" and the hype remix. Equal parts
aural ecstasy and lyrical bravado; the song is best summarized by the lyric "leaving
glowing footprints in the underground" as their radioactive hip-hop Timberland boots
make MASSIVE imprints. Sleep on this crew and their producer Celph Titled if you like,
but consider yourself warned - they are indie hip-hop's next big thing. Available
on vinyl, CD, and cassette - be armed with your choice of ammo before the final
"Countdown" occurs. Get yours at www.truehiphop.com/atak.

Music Vibes: 8 of 10Lyric Vibes: 8 of 10TOTAL Vibes: 8 of 10

Artist: Apani B-Fly Emcee
Title: Estragen
Label: Q-Boro

If you follow hip-hop's underground you probably know most of these women
already, like What? What? from Natural Resource and Blaze MC Battle champion
Pri Da Honey Dark. Together, they form a female Voltron that quenches your
thirst far better than Sprite over what is undeniably DJ Spinna's most slamming
beat to date. When they say that "the word MC don't know no fucking gender" you
best to HEED THE MESSAGE. Any man who listens to this and still wants to diss
female rappers ought to have his testicles handed to him on a platter. Combine
this with the fat bonus cuts, and you have one of the most perfect twelve inches
it has ever been my pleasure to shell out five dollars for.

Consider your ears Likwidated. Even though CaTashTrophe says "I went from snowball
to avalanche" this song is not likely to melt in the summer's heat - in fact it will
probably blaze soundsystems from Coast II Coast; after all, there's a reason Tash is
chilling in the Carribean's most notorious geographical anomaly. Slide, slide, slippedy
slide your way into the groove. If you are an Alkaholiks fan, if you like fat beats, or
you just want to hear one of hip-hop's best MC's kick some witty humerous lyrical skills,
this joint is for you.

This group already had massive respects from the New York underground; but flipping an
old Boogie Down Productions beat this dopely will probably gain them even more converts.
Of the wordplay, it would be a lie to call it the greatest shit ever - you lost money on
the Knicks, so what? The "2 Tons" worth of beats on the A-Side make them inconsequential
anyway; so the fact that they aren't wack is sufficient in itself. The irony is they'd
have to rhyme over a beat half as fat for their lyrics to stand out.

Hardcore madness manifested on wax describes this crew best. Their frontman
and producer of these two songs goes by the handle "Legendary" and it's not
unmerited - his voice has a dark ominous quality that could even make Sticky
Fingaz act like a shook one. The clever LL Cool J sample on "Soul Force"
will give a smile to old school heads, and the heavy groove of the track
will make new jacks nod THEIR heads. This is a good start for Reign of Terror
in '99; so here's hoping they follow-up with a full length later this year.